Charities

Charity gig

GuILLY and Tony Jones will be opening their garden in Pensford for a charity gig, raising funds for St Thomas a Becket Church Tower, the Pancreatic Cancer research fund and in memory of Tina Jenkins.

It will take place at the hollies on Pensford hill on Sunday, July 18th, from 3pm, featuring various bands. Tickets are £8 in advance and £10 on the day. Take your own rugs, picnics and chairs.

Details: Guilly or Tony 01761 490456

Volunteers wanted

VoLunTeerSfrom Weston-super-Mare and north Somerset Samaritans have welcomed a special visitor to the branch.

David Matthews, from Doncaster, is walking 6,000 miles visiting all 201 branches of the Samaritans in the uK. Weston was branch number 127 on his mammoth route and he has walked almost nine million steps so far.

Weston branch member John said: “It was great to meet David and cheer him on his way. he is doing a fantastic job promoting the work of Samaritans as he walks the length and breadth of the uK.”

The local branch of the charity is currently looking for new volunteers to join its team of listeners.

Buskers raise the bar for Fair Frome

Singing in the sun (l:r) Danny Shorten, Paul Kirtley and David Goodman

A GrouP of musicians who have been busking in Frome throughout the last nine months of the pandemic have raised more than £2,500 for charity. now the friends, who call themselves the We Don’t Scare easy Tribe, have set themselves a target of raising £5,000 for Fair Frome by December.

Fair Frome works to tackle poverty in the town, running the food and furniture banks for referred clients.

Schools charity needs support

TheLifeskills Safety education Charity, which is used by primary schools throughout the area, says it needs more volunteers if it is to reopen fully this September. hundreds of Year 6 classes normally visit their centre in Bristol every year, where they teach children how to keep themselves safe by taking them on a tour around their realistic (indoor) village.

Volunteer-led and in small groups, children are guided through many hazardous, real-life, interactive scenarios and they learn how to best deal with difficult or risky situations, including a road, beach, railway, dark alleyway, shops, and homes.

They use special effects to bring things to life. The children even get to make practice emergency 999 calls. It truly is a memorable experience.

Pre-pandemic they were teaching around 12,500 primary school children every year. Since then the centre has remained closed to schools. They quickly produced a video package to replace school visits during lockdowns, which schools could subscribe to and help keep the charity afloat.

It now has more schools on its waiting list than it can cope with, unless it can recruit more volunteers. It’s holding taster sessions for recruits on Tuesday, July 13th, 10.30am and Thursday, July 15th, 1.30pm.

Details: sam@lifeskills-bristol.org.uk 07860 832768 Facebook Link: https://bit.ly/2T6RVP6 Twitter Link: https://bit.ly/3gjih8S

Air Ambulance launches appeal

Ed Valentine

GreAT Western Air Ambulance has launched its first ever appeal for funds, facing an increase in demand and a £250,000 loss in fundraising because of the pandemic.

In one week recently, the charity received 52 call-outs. Medical director, Dr ed Valentine, said: “This last year has been tough on everyone, but it has been especially testing for the crew, who have worked tirelessly

to save lives in your community.

“now, as restrictions start to ease, we’re facing a very different challenge – a rise in the number of patients who need us.

“As people get back into their cars for their daily commutes, take their summer ‘staycations’, and flock to our beaches, there will be no rest for us.” each call-out costs the charity around £2,000 on average, meaning their fundraising loss could have covered over 100 lifesaving missions. each year, they need to raise over £4 million to remain operational, and rely entirely on charitable donations to do this.

Dr Valentine said: “We were here throughout the pandemic and we are still here now. We are ready to serve you – but we can only do it with your help. So we are asking you to support our Covid19 recovery Fund, and ensure we continue to be here for those in need.”

Details: http://www.gwaac.com/recoveryfund

Cycle ride supports hospice

ST MArGAreT’Shospice Care’s Charity Cycle ride is being held on Saturday, July 18th with a choice of routes starting at the Yeovil hospice.

The popular fundraising event will see participants tackle a leisurely 40-mile route from Yeovil to Taunton or an epic 80-mile circular route from Yeovil to Taunton and then back to Yeovil. entries are now open for the pedal-powered challenge, with places costing £25 for any distance. Participants are encouraged to raise sponsorship for St Margaret’s hospice Care, which last year supported more than 5,000 people affected by life-limiting illnesses across Somerset.

This year’s event is sponsored by the Bicycle Chain and Clarke Wilmott solicitors. The event is open to riders aged 12 and over but anyone under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Marathon runners wanted

Areyou looking to run the Virtual London Marathon? The trustees of the charity Murdered Abroad (one living in Somerset), have places available, all entry fees paid, for suitable runners.

You can run any route of your choice, here in Somerset on october 3rd, and will have 23 hours to complete your chosen 26mile run to qualify for the coveted “Finisher’s” medal and Tshirt. Murdered Abroad supports the families of about 80 or so British citizens who are killed each year, working, or holidaying abroad. A spokesman said: “People don’t realise until it happens to them that although any murder is horrendous for the family, murders abroad have the additional burdens of repatriation, language, time difference, foreign judicial systems, culture differences, distance, massive travel costs and little support from the authorities.”

The charity has helped hundreds of families since it was set up in 2001.

Details: support@murdered-abroad.org.uk • Brian 07880 734949 or brian@murdered-abroad.org.uk

Children helped by cheque

Terry Spragg, president of Burnham-on-Sea Rotary Club, with the charity’s Stephanie Sampson

heLP The Child, a charity which raises funds to buy specialist equipment for children with disabilities, has been presented with £500 by Burnham-on-Sea rotary Club.

The Somerset-wide charity, based in the town, was established in 1987. It was one of four local charities to benefit from a total of £2,000 donated by the club.

Villagers and visitors put fun on the map

PILTon was full of shoppers on May Bank holiday Monday for the village’s annual jumble trail raising funds for the Glastonbury-based Children’s World charity and other good causes.

The day raised more than £700 for Children’s World alone, giving a much-needed boost to its work in schools and in the community staging drama, music and educational workshops.

Bargains galore were on offer Paddy Hill, from Children’s World

Playtime with the toys for sale Ella (left) and Lottie were raising money for community nurses in Shepton Mallet who cared for their great-grandmother

Rotary reaching out

Jackie Partridge (centre) with Amy Paisey and Becky Exley, reception class teachers and pupils

A ChAnCe meeting in a bank in Midsomer norton has led to Somer Valley rotary Club coming to the aid of St Benedict’s School in the town.

Current club president Jackie Partridge overheard a fellow customer chatting to a cashier about how difficult it has been to raise funds for the polytunnel at her child’s school. Built during the pandemic, raising money to install an irrigation system and to get in the plant stock to start their growing calendar has not been easy.

Along with many others, the club donated £100 to give the school a helping hand. Already, the reception class has been enjoying the fruits of their labour; the additional learning space in the tunnel has been very well received, showing the children: “how plants grow and where some healthy snacks come from” along with charting the growth of the plants. l Further donations are welcome. Contact St Benedict’s, Midsomer norton, Parent Teacher Association at stbenedicts@edu.somerset.gov.uk

Walkers on air after breaking cash target

A GrouP of walkers who completed the 107-mile Mendip ring long-distance footpath route have raised almost £3,000 in aid of a Frome man’s favourite charity.

The walk was held in memory of Karl Waldeck, one of the founders of Frome Town rotary, who died in october 2020. It was raising funds for the nepalese charity Classrooms in the Clouds.

The team that completed the full ten-day challenge were Peter Bennett, Claire hewish, Tony Dyson, Tim Digger and Betsy Digger. Many others joined them for days or sections of the walk, including Karl’s sons Alex and Jonathan, Maisy humphries, Jane Dyson and Mary Canale.

They were joined on the last three days by Mike and Sarah hagen from the charity. Peter Bennett, who organised the walk along with Dot Cretney and Alex and Jonathan Waldeck, said: “our fundraising total at the time of writing is £2,973, or around £3,500 including gift aid – way above the £1000 target!”

For details, visit: https://www.classroomsintheclouds.org/

New GP service

A neWtraining programme has been launched in Somerset to improve accessibility of primary healthcare for people with a learning disability and/or autism, offering free training to all healthcare professionals and non-clinical staff.

The nationwide #MyGPandMe e-learning is being launched first in Somerset by Discovery, part of Dimensions uK, to help to address health inequalities and barriers. Current research shows that people with a learning disability die, on average, 25 years earlier than their counterparts in the general population.

Details: #MyGPandMe page on the Dimensions website

Record numbers

nAILSeACharity Walks, runs and Bikes took place on Sunday, June 13th in glorious unbroken sunshine to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the event.

There were the usual choice of walks/runs (5k,10k, 20k) and for the first time, bike routes (25K, 50k, 100k). entrants obtained sponsorship and raised vital funds for a charity of their choice.

The entry fee goes to rotary charities. So far, a record number, about 470, have registered and close to 300 of those participated on the Sunday at whatever time of day they preferred. The event is still active, up to and including July 31st.

Graham hunt from the organising committee said: “It was a wonderful day! rotary, nailsea and Backwell want to thank the local community for getting behind the event and making it such a success.

“The atmosphere was brilliant; great good humour, a lot of fun but very importantly, they observed Covid safety requirements to a very high standard. People have been very complimentary about the event, the routes and the arrangements – a few asked if we could arrange for it to be a little cooler next year!”

It’s not too late to register. The route maps and instructions will be e-mailed to you and you can walk, run or ride through your local countryside at your leisure.